As the "brain" of the five positions on the basketball court, the point guard has a very big responsibility for whether a team can run smoothly on both offensive and defensive ends, and only a point guard with high ball intelligence and strong communication skills can improve the quality of the team's offensive and defensive ends. And there have been too many excellent point guards in the history of the NBA, like the current Curry and Paul, although they play differently, they have to admit that they are all the best in the point guard position.
Among those players who have retired, MVP-level point guards such as Magic and Nash are well known, and when it comes to the top point guards in the NBA, there is another person whose name cannot be ignored, that is, the legendary superstar in Jazz history John Stockton. Stockton, who was drafted by the Jazz in 1984, played for 19 seasons and dedicated his entire career to the team.
As a small guard who is only 1.85 meters tall and weighs less than 80 kilograms, Stockton's physical condition in the NBA can be called very mediocre. However, although the physical talent is average, Stockton still has a place in the NBA by relying on his good style of play, although he does not have strong physical fitness, but with continuous hard practice, he can still score on the NBA court by shooting.
On the defensive end, Stockton is not as "weak" as he seems, relying on excellent anticipation and defensive ball intelligence, he can often deliver steals. In Stockton's 19-year career, he won two steals, averaging 2.2 steals per game in his career, and at his peak he averaged more than three steals per game in three seasons.
At the beginning, Stockton's biggest feature at both ends of the offensive and defensive ends is stability, compared to Magic, Nash and other legendary point guards, although his passing is not so gorgeous, but it is better than practicality, and in terms of individual offense, Stockton is also easy not to shoot difficult shots, which are all to avoid mistakes and meaningless iron, and this style of play is undoubtedly effective for Stockton himself, considering his ball-holding ratio, his turnovers and offensive efficiency are very outstanding.
In addition to the "only" 5.1 assists per game in his rookie season, Stockton's average assists per game have remained above 7 since the second year, and since the 1987-1988 season, he has completely entered the peak, he has averaged double-doubles in assists per game for 9 consecutive seasons, during which he won the assist king every year, including 1989-1990 He set a career record with an average of 14.5 assists per game.
Finally, when he retired, Stockton's total assists were fixed at 15,806, which is also unique in NBA history. According to the current rankings, Stockton is nearly 4,000 assists ahead of second-placed Kidd, and the current third all-time third Paul closest to Stockton is 3,912 assists respectively, considering that Paul is also almost 40 years old, so there is no possibility of him catching up with Stockton in his career.
So how high is the gold content of Stockton, the all-time assist king? According to statistics, his total assists in the last six seasons are 3296, so if he retires six seasons early, minus these 3296 assists, Stockton can still be firmly in the position of the all-time assist king, which can also see how terrifying Stockton's data accumulation speed was at his peak!
Stockton's all-time assist record can be tied with Jordan's 10-time scoring title, James's all-time scoring title and other records as an unprecedented difficulty level in the NBA.
Assuming a player is at the top of his debut, averaging 10 assists per game from his rookie season, and then he can consistently play the full 82 games, then he can dishing out 820 assists in a season, which would make him "only" need to play 20 seasons in the NBA to surpass Stockton. The problem is that players who average 10 assists per game may appear, but there hasn't been a player in history who has played 20 seasons in the NBA and never missed a game, especially in the current era, which seems more like a fantasy.
In addition to assists, Stockton is also the NBA's all-time steal leader, with 3,265 steals in history, followed by Kidd in second place with 581 and Paul in third with 651. This record is also unattainable for other players, and if Paul wants to surpass Stockton, assuming he is "rejuvenated" and averages 2 steals per game to play the regular season, it will take at least nearly 4 seasons, and Paul will be almost 44 years old by then, so this is obviously impossible.
In addition, Stockton is not only strong in passing and stealing, his offensive ability is also far underestimated, as a player who has played in the league for 19 seasons, he has averaged 13.1 points per game in his career, and the shooting rate is as high as 51.5%, which is still a performance in that era of emphasizing the defensive confrontation of the restricted area, it is difficult to imagine how a "thin guard" who is only 1.85 meters tall can maintain efficient offense in the NBA all year round.
In the NBA of that era, Stockton was undoubtedly a near-perfect point guard, and his style of play completely integrated scoring, organization, defense, and court brains, and it was in this way that he was able to lead the Jazz to the best moment in team history. At their peak, Stockton and Malone teamed up, they led the team to win the division championship two years in a row, but unfortunately they were only two wins away from winning the championship in both seasons, and if they could win the championship, Stockton's career would be more complete, but although Stockton and Jazz became the background board of the Bulls, as Malone said, they gave everything for those two rounds of the series, even if they lost, they were standing and losing.
So what would you say about Stockton's career? Do you think his future assist and steal king will be replaced by other players? Fans with different opinions are welcome to leave a message in the comment area!